


Wheedle - Stalker

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1534]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22357405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: While Abby and Tony try to figure out what to get Gibbs for Christmas, Abby picks up a stalker. Can they resolve Abby's stalker problems before Christmas rolls around?
Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1534]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/444514
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: 2020 Twelve Days of Christmas, The Writer's Guild Community





	Wheedle - Stalker

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 07/13/2003 for the word [wheedle](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2003/07/13/wheedle).
> 
> wheedle[ hweed-l, weed-l ]  
> verb (used with object), whee·dled, whee·dling.  
> to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts:  
> We wheedled him incessantly, but he would not consent.  
> to persuade (a person) by such words or acts:  
> She wheedled him into going with her.  
> to obtain (something) by artful persuasions:  
> I wheedled a new car out of my father.  
> verb (used without object), whee·dled, whee·dling.  
> to use beguiling or artful persuasions:  
> I always wheedle if I really need something.
> 
> This is for Day 9 of the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge. Today's prompt is Gifts.

“Please Tony,” Abby wheedled.

“No, Abs.”

“But,” Abby pouted.

“I already have a gift for Gibbs. I’m not going in with you on something super expensive that Gibbs won’t even like.”

“Why wouldn’t he like it? He builds boats all the time.”

“Doesn’t mean he wants you to give him a cruise. It’s not the same thing at all, Abs.”

Abby pouted. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, quite sure."

"What do I tell the others?”

“You mean there were others besides you that were willing to go in on buying Gibbs a cruise?”

Abby nodded. “Tim, Bishop, and Jimmy thought it was a great idea, though, Ducky did refrain.” Abby frowned as she considered whether Ducky had thought it a bad idea as well. “But we wanted to do something different besides booze, wood, coffee, or coffee gift cards.”

“Let me think on it. Maybe there’s something else you guys could get him.”

“What are you thinking, Tony?”

“I don’t know, yet. Give me time.”

“Fine.” Abby crossed her arms and pouted. 

One of Abby’s machines beeped just then and Tony looked at her. “That for our case?”

“No. Balboa’s team.”

“You better take care of that. I’ll be back later.” Tony waved as he headed out of Abby’s lab and back to the bullpen. 

Their current case wasn’t anything to write home about. It was pretty close to open and shut, though they still had a few questions to answer before they could completely close it. Tony expected that they’d have it solved by the end of the day unless something in the evidence Abby was processing generated more questions.

Tony really hoped that the case was as open and shut as he expected. It was almost Christmas and he really didn’t want to get embroiled in a crazy case so close to Christmas. He’d worked through Christmas for many years, but he hated it. Though if a team was going to work through Christmas, their team was the best one to do so since none of them had the happiest home lives.

That didn’t mean that they enjoyed working Christmas. In a lot of ways, they were each others family since aside from Abby none of them enjoyed going “home” for Christmas. This year they were planning a team Christmas celebration with Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy, and Tony really didn’t want that to get ruined by a case.

His phone rang just as he was stepping into the bullpen. He glanced at the caller id and frowned when it read Abby’s lab. What could she be calling about so soon after he left? 

“Tony,” Abby’s voice was a little shaky. He’d never heard her like this. “Get back here, now.”

Gibbs watched Tony turn and run back down the stairs he’d just come up. Something must be wrong, Gibbs followed after Tony. He arrived just in time to hear, “Who the hell could be sending me a severed hand clutching a scroll?”

“What’s going on here?” Gibbs demanded as he walked into the lab.

Abby pointed shakily at the severed hand. “That wasn’t there just a minute ago and if this is someone’s idea of a joke, it’s not funny.”

“Who would play a prank on you like this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you broken up with anyone recently?”

“No,” Abby’s voice raised slightly at the end.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her and Tony was suspicious as well. “What aren’t you telling us, Abs?” Gibbs pressed.

“It’s under control. Just, I may have gotten a stalker.”

“A stalker, Abs?” Tony protested. “How is that under control?” 

“I’ve already talked with the police and gotten a restraining order against him.”

“Could he have sent this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Have you read what’s on the scroll?”

“No. I was too afraid to.”

“Come on, where are your gloves? Let’s read it together,” Gibbs ordered.

Abby pointed to the gloves and they both donned them before separating the scroll from the severed hand carefully. They didn’t know if they would need to process it as evidence of crime or not. 

Gibbs unrolled the scroll and started reading it. “No restraining order can keep us apart, my love. I will not give up. We were meant to be together, my love.”

“Creepy.” Tony shuddered. “Where did you find this guy, Abs?”

Abby wrung her hands. “I,” she paused not sure how to continue.

Gibbs ignored the conversation and kept reading the note, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you, but I will come for you. By the time you receive my gift, I will be well on my way to finding you.”

“Abs, you can’t go anywhere without protective custody.”

“Is that good enough? This is a secure lab.”

“The hand is from someone who tried to prevent me from seeing you. I suggest no one else get in my way,” Gibbs finished.

He exchanged looks with Tony before announcing, “You’re coming home with me, Abs.”

“Are you sure that’s safe? I don’t want any of the team hurt.”

“Abs, it’s Christmas tomorrow. We’re all going to be together anyway.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be. What kind of Christmas would it be if this guy starts hacking you guys up?”

“We can handle ourselves, Abby. In fact, we’re probably more prepared for this guy than anyone else that you might end up around.”

“But it’s Christmas, Gibbs.”

“And we’ll definitely be spending it together this year, Abs.”

“Don’t worry, Abs. We’ll just move up our celebrations, so that we can be prepared for this guy.” Tony murmured. “Now, you know who this guy is since you got a restraining order against him, right?”

“Yeah. Here let me pull him up.” Abby quickly typed something into her keyboard and a profile came up.

“Seriously, Abs? How did you meet this guy?”

“Well I was researching this really cool artifact and joined a forum to find out some information on its origins. We started chatting and he had a lot of knowledge about the artifact and seemed like a really cool guy.”

“Did you meet him, Abby?”

“Yeah. He wanted to see the artifact. I thought it would be ok.”

“But it wasn’t, was it?”

“He seemed ok at first, but the artifact… It was bad news, Gibbs.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was cursed. Everyone who touched it died.”

“You can’t really believe that, can you?”

“It’s got a well documented history showing all the people who touched it that died.”

“So why aren’t you dead, yet?”

“I used gloves. I never touched it with my bare hands. The same can’t be said for Gerald.”

“So what?”

“I think he’s trying to kill me to prevent the curse from taking him.”

“Do you still have this artifact, Abs?”

“Yeah. It’s right here.” Abby pulled a bag out of one of her drawers.

“You keep a cursed artifact in your desk drawer, Abs?”

“I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with it. I can’t just hand it over to a museum. It would be too easy for someone to accidentally die from the curse.”

“There’s no curse, Abby.”

“You don’t know that Gibbs.”

“Curses aren’t real.”

“Tell that to the line of dead bodies that follows this beauty around.”

“I don’t know, Abs. It really doesn’t look like all that sinister. Seems like something that should be in a child’s playroom.”

“Oh yeah, it was. At Christmas coincidentally enough.”

“What are you talking about, Abs?”

“Oh well that’s the beauty of this amulet. It was a present given to a young girl right before Christmas. She wore it Christmas day and was never heard from again. Rumor is that she was killed and in revenge kills everyone who touches the pendant.”

“Why would you pick up something like this?”

“Oh come on, Gibbs. It’s awesome. Fits right in with my coffin.”

Gibbs just shook his head. “Come on, Abs, let’s go home.” Turning to DiNozzo, Gibbs ordered, “Get everyone else. Meet us at my place.” 

“Shouldn’t you have more protection when stopping by Abby’s house?”

“We’ll be fine.”

“Gibbs, he could be at her apartment or watching it and follow you to your home.”

“I know, DiNozzo. Now do as I told you,” he growled.

Tony frowned, but he knew it wasn’t the right time to fight with Gibbs over it. With a sigh, he headed up the stairs to the bullpen to get the rest of the team over to Gibbs’ house. No matter what happened, this was going down in the record book of team Christmases.

Tony didn’t know that any of them would be able to enjoy Christmas until Abby’s stalker was caught and behind bars and possibly not even then. He struck Tony as the kind of guy who was only not dangerous if he was dead. With that in mind, Tony ignored Gibbs instructions and headed over to Abby’s to back Gibbs up while the rest went to Gibbs.

He had a feeling that Abby’s stalker was waiting for them at her apartment. He was hoping that his presence would enable a quick take down and prevent it from spiralling out of control. Plus, he really wanted this situation to not be hanging over their heads at Christmas.

As he stepped out of his car in the parking lot of Abby’s apartment complex, he heard a girlish scream. He ran up the stairs to Abby’s as fast as he could. He paused at the doorway not sure what he would find inside.

He peeked around the corner to see what he was dealing with and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Gibbs and Abby unharmed. They also didn’t seem to be under attack. “What happened?”

Abby pointed to the dead body in her coffin that was missing a hand. “I think we found the person whose hand is in my lab.”

“Who is he?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well I guess we better get Ducky here to take care of the body. Any idea where our stalker is?”

“Right behind you.”

Gibbs and Tony both spun around to face the attacker, placing Abby behind them. Tony’s gun was in his hand and aimed at the attacker as was Gibbs. 

“Don’t get in my way.”

“If you’d just come with me, this could be resolved calmly,” Gibbs stated.

“I don’t think you understand this situation. If you get in my way I’ll be forced to kill you.”

“No. I don’t think you understand this situation. We’re not going to let you take Abby.”

They stared each other down, but when the stalker moved to fire two shots rang out and the stalker fell to the ground. Gibbs, on the other hand, was simply grazed by the bullet. The stalker’s weapon of choice was clearly not a gun. 

Still, Tony was glad that Abby was safe again. Unfortunately, this meant that everyone would be working tonight. Still it would give Tony time to figure out a gift that the others could give Gibbs beside the normal. After all, there was no way Gibbs would ever go on a cruise. He’d be much happier with a sailboat.

Tony didn’t think that giving him a sailboat would be better either, however. Gibbs wasn’t easy to shop for once you got rid of the obvious. There was one thing that they could get him, however. 

He texted Abby his idea while they were busy working the crime scene. He was pretty sure she could work her magic and get it organized for tomorrow, which had been their original plan for a team gathering for Christmas anyway. Tony just hoped that he wasn’t completely off base when it came to what Gibbs would like. 

Abby knew Gibbs the longest, but somehow he knew Gibbs the best. That didn’t mean he knew what Gibbs would want as a Christmas gift, however. Well they would all find out tomorrow what Gibbs thought about the present.

“Did you get it?” Tony whispered to Abby as they waited for Christmas dinner to be served.

“Yep.” Abby bounced excitedly, nodding her head. “He’s going to like this, right?”

“Hopefully,” Tony agreed.

Dinner was steak, turkey, and a bunch of sides. Everyone took some of the vegetables to appease Ducky, but there were definitely going to be leftovers. They tried to make small talk, but everyone was still feeling the stress of Abby’s stalker.

Tony knew that eventually things would go back to normal, but for now the threat to their family was too real. Hopefully, the presents would cheer everyone up, but first they had to finish dinner.

Finally, the time to open presents rolled around and they started with the gift from everyone except Tony to Gibbs. This present would tell how the rest of the night would go. Everyone waited with baited breath as Gibbs opened the package.

“We know that Jackson’s death was unexpected and that you miss him. We just wanted to remind you of the good memories you had with him.”

“Where did you get these photos?”

“Everyone in Stillwater was happy to pass along the photos they had. There are a number of stories included involving Jackson or you that they shared too. Some of them might even be new to you,” Abby babbled.

“Thanks Abs. I appreciate it.” Gibbs caressed the photo album tenderly. 

No one said anything, but they could tell how much it meant to Gibbs. Tony hoped that someday Gibbs would open up and share more happy memories from his family, but for now being there as a family was good enough.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has no stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least no more stories before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> The 2020 Prompts are open now! Go forth and prompt me! [Click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2020/profile) to add your prompts to my 2020 Prompt Collection. Just click the sign up link. ;) I'm hoping to complete all the 2020 prompts by the end of 2021. 
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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